


A Medic’s Tale

by PlanetaryLines



Category: Coast to Coast - lumosinlove, Sweater Weather - Lumosinlove
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25712890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetaryLines/pseuds/PlanetaryLines
Summary: An O’Knutzy Army Fic.
Relationships: O’knutzy - Relationship
Kudos: 13





	A Medic’s Tale

**Author's Note:**

> Character belong to @lumosinlove. If you haven’t read her fics sw and c2c you should!

The gun fire rained closer than it had the previous nights. The popping of bullets from their side were ringing in his ears; but just as loud came the whistling of bombs searching for the inside of the trench. If he closed his eyes it was a little like the folk group that played out of the band stand at home. He always begged his parents to take him to the park to hear their whimsical tunes. That was years ago.

The cloth at the tent entrance flaps open and Leo is forced back to the cold reality. Two soldiers enter; one has his arm thrown around the other’s shoulders. He’s limping, favouring the right leg.

“How bad is it, it sounds like they’ve really pushed us back to the lines,” Leo asks. Not much news makes it back to the med tent. What little does is usually gloomy updates from injured men.

The older of the pair, Dumo, can only offer a grimace. Sometimes its easier not to say anything rather than admit there’s nothing good to share. They’ve been pressed for a few weeks, waiting for the next batch to arrive. There’s supposed to be some fresh out of training the day after tomorrow, and the week after Lieutenant Black would be arriving with the cavalry. They only had to hold for a week.

Leo turned to the other soldier and gave his leg a once over. The fabric was stretched tight over his thighs so his calf jutting out at a weird angle was clearly visible. “Dislocated knee cap?”

“Think so,” the soldier huffed out as Dumo laid him on an empty cot.

Leo turned to check his supply of local anesthetic while Dumo excused himself to the battlefield once more. Leo’s hands shuffled through the cart faster as he struggled to remember what he had done with the last shipment. He dropped to a squat and pulled the log book out. From the bed behind him he heard the soldier’s cough turn into a splutter. Leo knew he was running low on time, from the sounds of it the soldier’s adrenaline was already wearing off and he would pretty soon be in pain akin to a tiger taking a bite out of his leg.

Based on the log he should still have one dose left. Leo pushed through bandages and surgical tools, something clattered off the back and shattered. His heart dropped. Laying just behind the supply cart was the smashed remains of the final dose of local anesthetic. The clear liquid had already been absorbed by the dry desert. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Everything okay there, doc?”

Leo turned back to his patient, his mouth turned down and eyebrows pulled together.

“I’m sorry.” He lifted his head to meet his eyes and for the first time really got a good look at the boy. Leo had only been to California once, a school trip, but the man in front of him was the embodiment of the sun setting over a beach in Cali. He was far too pretty for the pain Leo was about to put him through. “I broke the last dose of anesthetic so this is going to hurt like hell.”

Whatever response Leo was expecting it certainly wasn’t laughter, that’s for sure. Here he was on the verge of tears and this man was laughing at him. “Desole. I wish there was something more I could do but I have to put it back in now, your adrenaline will wear off soon. Let me find you a towel.”

Leo turned back to the cart slumping his shoulders forward.

“Hey, peanut, c’est bon. I was only laughing because.. merde. I was shot a few weeks back so this seems pretty minor. I think I can handle the pain.”

Leo was sure the shock was all over his face when he whipped his head back around. Something pulled in his neck and he brought a hand up to massage it out. “Excuse me? You were shot! Why are you still here? And why didn’t I see you for it? Do I need to look at the wound? Gods, its probably infected by now...”

Leo trailed off as a hand grabbed his arm. “Shhh, peanut, I’m okay. I transferred here from the south base a few days ago. They patched me up pretty good over there.”

“Huh, why do you keep calling me peanut?” Leo worried his lip still blinking away the last of his tears.

The soldier pointed to his own name tag, Tremetz, “Your name patch says nut, and well you’re kind of small and cute.... so peanut.” A slight blush covered the mans cheeks and he looked a little bashful.

Leo glanced down at himself and the at the man on the cot. “Small? I have at least a foot on you.”

The soldier could only shrug, finally seeming a little embarrassed by the whole conversation.

Reaching back to the cart Leo grabbed the towel he had previously been reaching for. “We need to get this done now, otherwise its going to get much worse. Also it’s pronounced Newt, Leo Knut.”

Before he could response, Leo was shoving a towel in the mans mouth and moving to stand by his injured knee cap. “Bite down, this isn’t going to be enjoyable. I’ll count you in. Three, two.”

Without waiting to reach one Leo applied a force to his leg and it snapped back into place. The towel muffled most of the scream but looking at the soldier face Leo’s heart clenched. He hated that moment, just before relief washed over them always came painful seconds of pure anguish. Worse was when nothing came after the anguish. His first month he kept track of every person who he failed, now there were too many, too much pain. Long nights comforted only by the screams of the men he couldn’t save.

In his dazed state, Leo hadn’t notice the soldier pull the towel out of his mouth and sit up. A hand came to rest on his shoulder, rubbing gentle circles.

“See that wasn’t so bad. Barely felt any pain at all.”

Leo managed a small smile. Even muffled, those screams were not an indicator of a painless process. This man was in no state to be comforting Leo, given the previous ordeal, their roles really should be reversed.

“Logan, by the way. That’s my name.”

Leo stood up and shook himself out. It had almost been a year, he should be able to handle this by now. He couldn’t be getting teary eyed everytime some pretty boy came to see him in pain. That is his job description. “It’s good to meet you Logan. You’re out for a few hours. I’ll let Dumo know. And I’ll be back in a few to let you know you can leave.”

Leo turned to the side entrance to the tent. He usually shared a space off the med tent with the other doctor. Currently he was the only one deployed at the very front. Leo was desperately in need of his afternoon break. Covering a job meant for two was no easy task.

“Peanut..”

Leo glanced back over his shoulder, “Yeah, Logan?”

“Thank you. Merci. I- never mind. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Hopefully not too much, I don’t want to making a habit of getting hurt, you hear me.” With that Leo let the tent flap fall closed behind him and still a little confused by the interaction, he made his way to his bunk.

~

The bombs were pulling in closer. A shell hit the ground much closer than Leo was really comfortable with. Not that any of this was particularly comfortable, if he was being honest with himself, some days he wished he was back in New Orleans. There was little he wouldn’t do for a bowl of his Ma’s famous chilli. It had a sweet heat to it that wrapped around you and warmed your bones. Everything here was cold and lonely.

Leo was making a difference here, realistically he knew that, but its hard seeing distant faces pass though only to head back to the crossfire. Leo brought his hands up to his face and rubbed away the last of his sleep. He gave his cheeks a few slaps, he couldn’t afford to lose focus. People died when he lost focus. “Ok, pull yourself together, you’ve always handled this. You can’t fall apart now.” Leo muttered to himself.

With one final sigh he turned back to face the main section of the med tent. There were three soldiers occupying tents. Two were recovering from bullet holes, one to the calf and the other a nick on the abdomen. Nothing serious enough to be sent home, not with how this battle is going anyways. They’d come in a few days ago, should be fine to return to the fight with another nights rest.

The third cot was filled by the soldier who had come in earlier that day. Leo moved towards the bed so he could evaluate his condition. Logan propped himself up, laying back on his elbows, as he noticed Leo approaching.

“Hey peanut, here to send me back to the fight?” Logan’s mouth quirked to the side and he gave Leo a goofy grin.

“Have to make sure you’re all fixed up, yeah.” Leo said, a little too breathless for the lack of exercise he’d been doing. “How’s the pain?”

Leo reached around the next bed to move the stool closer to Logan’s cot. He rolled up Logan’s pant leg to get a better look at his knee. His shin was covered in scars, dotting his leg in an intricate constellation. He let his hand hover over them a moment before moving along to the recovering knee. All soldier had scars, he knew that better than anyone, but none he’d seen were as beautiful as Logan’s.

“Deux. On a scale of one to ten. Now that you’re here, anyways. I can’t promise that it won’t jump to a five or six when you leave.”

Leo’s eyes jumped up to meet Logan’s, growing wide. “I- yeah, I mean that’s my job. To take away your guys’ pain.”

Logan gave a small small and glanced down to where his hands were fiddling in his lap. “Mmm, et ta douleur... Who takes that away?”

Leo removed his own hand from where it had been massaging Logan’s kneecap and placed it over Logan’s own. “Hey, I’m okay. D’accord?”

Logan took Leo’s hand between his own and leaned into Leo’s space. “Peanut, can I-“

The tent door flapped open aggressively as Dumo entered with a trail of meek faces behind him. They all had small sacks resting on their backs. So these were the new recruits.

At some point during their entrance, Logan had pulled back, his hands no longer held Leo’s. Even though he now had more space for himself, Leo felt like he’d lost the ability to breath when Logan pulled back. They were in the middle of a goddamn war, catching feelings for another boy wasn’t really a great idea. But gods if that almost kiss didn’t stir something in his stomach.

Dumo’s eyes found Leo where he sat next to Logan’s bed (at a perfectly professional distance Leo hoped). “New recruits arrived early. Hopefully the extra manpower helps us gain some ground back. Figured I should introduce them to you since you’ll probably be seeing them soon enough.”

Leo nodded. New recruits didn’t have the same instincts; training was nothing compared to the real deal. That usually meant a whole lot of them would be by to see Leo within the next few days. He could only hope they’d still be breathing when they got to him, although most of them wouldn’t be.

“O’Hara here is going to stick back here with you until Alice arrives next week. He did a section of his training as a field medic so he’ll be able to ease some of your load.” Dumo waved one of the new recruits forward and then headed back out the door, the rest of the recruits marching after.

Only a single red head remained where the pack had stood a moment before. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. Leo motioned him to the side of the tent where his own bunk was.

“There’s a bunk free back there, O’Hara, you can drop your stuff off. Take the time you need, I know it’s pretty overwhelming at first, but when you’re finished I could really use the help out here.”

O’Hara paused on his way to the back room, “The name’s Finn. Looking forward to working with you.” Finn gave Leo a smile, pulled the cloth aside, and disappeared behind it.

Logan breathed out behind him, “Damn, he was hot.”

Leo turned back to where Logan was leaning back against the pillows, staring at the canvas Finn had disappeared behind. When Logan turned his head back to look at Leo, Leo only quirked an eyebrow.

“What I can’t think both of you are hot? Cause you are by the way.” Logan said.

Logan’s confession was very much the same as the one Leo’s own heart had just made. And he would have to spend the next week sleeping in the bunk next to Finn’s.

“No... you can. I know what you mean.”


End file.
